I was about to write on monitors that I have bought and what headaches they gave me. But I have since decided that I should write about something closer to the heart (not that the monitors are not close – they ripped a hole from my pocket!). I shall write about growing up with my parents.

I do not have super-duper memory but I remembered growing up with a lot of care from my parents, with my fair share of punishments should I do anything wrongly. I don’t remember being caned for bad test results, but I always ended up reprimanding myself and turned depressed when I didn’t do well. There was once I was so sad, I cried and cried and apologised to my parents for not doing well. Of course, I didn’t get the toy I wanted, but they gave me a consolation prize nonetheless.

My primary school days were filled with doing assignment books – 1 per day if possible, if not 1 every 2 days. Come to think of it, I enjoyed it a lot because it gave great satisfaction to get correct answers and I get to learn from wrong answers without being penalized (in exams). However, I wasn’t the top student in school as my parents would have expected me to… simply because… I was just hardworking, a mugger, but not a genius. Only real geniuses can excel and be a top student in my school. I was a pseudo-genius. Haha… 😛

I also remembered that my mum would write her own assessment books for me to complete – 1 jotter book after another, until a point in time, I was so fed up, I threw the books onto the floor. Needless to say, I got caned upside down and inside out. However, without all those canings, I would probably still be a lazy bum now – bumming my way here and there.

Life in primary school was filled with rewards and punishments – where results are concerned. My mum would stop short of calling me stupid, but I get punished for careless mistakes committed during exams, and spared for mistakes that are genuine, i.e. “unseen questions”. Rewards would come in the form of toys – things that I wanted or desired if I topped the class, and smaller stuffs if I came in 2nd or 3rd. Anything lesser than that would see me kneeling on durian husks result in prizes that comes in the form of more assessment books for the following year.

Secondary school life and beyond was totally different. My parents left me the way I was because school life was stressful. It was tough and for the first time in my life, I ended up at the bottom of, not just the class, but the entire school; and I tasted failure for an entire duration of 2 years before I finally started picking up. It was tough, but my parents were there to just encourage me, with no more harsh words.

And as they say, the rest are all history. Looking back now, I am quite grateful for my parents’ care. Without all the canings, I am not too sure where I would be now. It was painful, but essential for someone like me.